5 held over Maoist money trail to Elgaar Parishad

Said to be ‘top urban Maoist operatives’ who also used the funds to mobilise Dalits for agitations; arrested by Pune police in operation spanning Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi.

Five Dalit activists and “top urban Maoist operatives” were arrested by the Pune police from Mumbai, Nagpur and Delhi on Wednesday for allegedly channelling funds from Maoist organisations to organise Elgaar Parishad in Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017.

Elgaar Parishad sought to commemorate 200 years of the victory of Dalits, who fought along the British, over Peshwas in the Bhima Koregaon battle, but the police say provocative speeches allegedly made by activists of left-leaning organisation Kabir Kala Manch led to violence — which left one dead and several injured — at Bhima Koregaon in the district a day later. The violence led to a massive statewide Dalit agitation.

Those arrested — Sudhir Dhawale, Rona Wilson, Shoma Sen, Mahesh Raut and Surendra Gadling — are suspected to be members of the banned CPI(Maoist). Gadling was among the Dalit activists whose offices and residences were raided by the Pune police in April.
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Ravindra Kadam, joint commissioner of police, Pune, says those raids helped establish a Maoists link to Elgaar Parishad. “Emails and documents showed a money trail to Elgaar Parishad. We have substantial evidence. Those arrested will be produced in court on Thursday.”

Letter from Comrade M

The police say those arrested are the brass of urban Maoism, and were involved with Maoist activities over the last few years, especially in spreading Maoist ideology in urban areas. Prior to their arrest, they were booked under relevant sections of the IPC. Charges under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act were added later.

Maharashtra Police sources say besides Elgaar Parishad, the five used Maoist funds over the last three months to mobilise Dalits for agitations.

They claim that forensic analysis of electronic evidence seized from Wilson in April showed an “incriminating letter”, dated January 2 this year — the day after the violence — from a member of the CPI(Maoist)’s central committee, identified only as ‘Comrade M’. The letter, addressed to ‘Comrade Rona’, lauded the success of Elgaar Parishad. “The letter also called for Dalit agitations to be organised in other BJP-ruled states to dent the party’s prospects in the 2019 general election,” said a source.

The letter purportedly also talked about setting up more fact-finding committees, creating new passwords for communication, and of a meeting of Maoist sympathisers in London that would be attended by a Swedish delegation.

‘Comrade M’ also allegedly made explosive claims about the Opposition, the authenticity of which could not be independently verified.

Bhide is the founder-leader of Shree Shiv Pratisthan Hindustan and Ekbote, the leader of Samastha Hindu Aghadi. Bhide was given a clean chit by the state government. Ekbote was arrested in March, but granted bail the following month.

“We have given enough evidence to the police to arrest Bhide, but they are dilly-dallying. We will present the evidence to the commission of inquiry set up by the state government to probe the violence,” says Potdar. “The arrests show how this government deals with dissent.”

She says there were around 250 organisations that were part of Elgaar Parishad’s organising committee. “None of these was banned. The funds were raised by all of them.”

Jyoti Jagtap, member of Kabir Kala Manch, feels the arrests are a pressure tactic. “This is to deter people from submitting evidence to the commission of inquiry. They also want to divert attention from the demands for arrest of Bhide and Ekbote.”

Ramesh Gaichor, another member of Kabir Kala Manch, says of the five arrested, only Gadling and Dhawale were part of the Elgaar Parishad organising committee.

(Contributions by Prachee Kulkarni in Pune and Makarand Gadgil in Mumbai)

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